A young woman went to Cornell University for an education. She left without a degree.
Court papers call her Jane Doe, and her September lawsuit describes her assault at a fraternity house in October 2024. Prosecutors have reopened their investigation, but the accused deny wrongdoing.
We leave the facts of this case to the courts and investigators. But a survivor should not need a courtroom to get help, and most will never go near one. She needs a school that responds when she reports. Too often, that is not what she gets. In a Know Your IX survey of student survivors who reported to their schools, 39% saw their education substantially disrupted.
The American Association of University Women (AAUW) was founded in 1881 to open higher education to women. A woman pushed out of college is not a side issue for us. It is the issue.
More than a decade ago, the country treated this as urgent. A White House task force issued policies for prevention and supporting victims. Title IX made clear that sexual violence is a civil rights issue. Congress added campus protections into the Violence Against Women Act and the Clery Act with bipartisan votes.
Since then, prevention became a movement, and that work matters. Too much of the responsibility is placed on women and girls to keep themselves safe, and not enough on preventing assault, changing the culture that enables it, and building a strong network of support for survivors.
Support for survivors, meanwhile, became a link on a resource page. Ask most students what help they can get the day after an assault, without filing anything, and you will hear silence.
The national conversation narrowed to two questions: how to prevent assault, and how to punish it. A third got lost: how do we keep survivors in school?
Title IX offers a path, despite the Education Department's efforts to lower the legal minimum for how schools must respond to sex-based harassment. Its protections are a floor, not a ceiling. Nothing stops schools from doing more, and they should. The Clery Act, as strengthened by the Violence Against Women Act, adds another layer: schools must provide the accommodations a survivor requests, whether or not she makes a formal report.
These are called supportive measures, and they are free. A student does not have to file a formal complaint, sit through an investigation, or go to the police. She only has to tell her school, which she can do confidentially. Schools are required to provide supportive measures. They may include:
- Help her feel safe with a no-contact order, a campus escort, or a move to a different class or dorm.
- Help her stay on track by extending deadlines, recording lectures, offering a tutor, and providing protection for funding she might otherwise lose.
- Help her step away and heal with a leave of absence, withdrawal from a class with no mark on her transcript, and tuition credit(s) so a lost semester does not cost her family thousands.
The choice is hers. These rights belong to survivors of every gender.
The timing matters. On September 28, the Education Department locked in weaker Title IX rules during the campus “Red Zone”, when new students face the highest risk of sexual assault. In May, a Democrat and a Republican in Congress highlighted that its civil rights office had not posted a single resolved sexual harassment or sexual violence case since January 2025. Students cannot count on Washington. Colleges must lead.
To colleges and universities: say the hard part out loud. No school can promise a student she will never be harmed, but every school can promise support if an assault happens. Put a list of supportive measures where students look: at orientation, in every syllabus, and on the student portal. Name one person to call. Make clear that no complaint is required. Put leave and tuition credit policies in writing. Put her education ahead of your reputation.
To Congress: reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act before it expires in 2027, with the bipartisan support that passed it before. Protect its campus grants, which pay for the staff and advocates survivors rely on. And use your oversight power to make sure the Education Department enforces the law.
To every survivor: your education matters. You have rights. Your school owes you help. We will keep pushing until every campus says so out loud.
If you or someone you know needs support, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-4673.
Gloria L. Blackwell is CEO of the American Association of University Women (AAUW).
